Third primary dose recorded in GP system as booster

[RachC2021]

Who should I contact in order to fix this? I’d rather only contact one organisation and get it right first time, rather than contact the wrong organisation(s) first. GP did not administer the vaccine.

That’s correct? The “booster” is just an extra dose of the vaccine?

Assuming you’re CEV and need a 3rd vaccine before you officially have a booster

Contact your CCG - chief pharmacist should be able to help

GPs and hospital/specialist teams have been told sweet FA about this

If the CCG can’t help try NHS England

@RachC2021

Who should I contact in order to fix this? I’d rather only contact one organisation and get it right first time, rather than contact the wrong organisation(s) first. GP did not administer the vaccine.

Unfortunately the vaccine recording system (aka the central database) hasn't yet been updated to differentiate between the 3rd primary vaccination for the immune-compromised and the general booster.

Vaccination centres and some GPs are trying to make a note to update the system later, but it's a bloody shitshow.

Sajid Javid has been talking out of his arse so he's the one to complain to.

@Marelle

That’s correct? The “booster” is just an extra dose of the vaccine?

No. I’m not eligible for a booster. (Under 50, not vulnerable now, not employed in healthcare etc.)

It was definitely a third primary dose due to immunosuppression around the time of dose 1. Vaccinator confirmed it was being done as a third primary dose, as did the doctor I saw beforehand, who also asked me to confirm why I thought I was being offered it.

Holy shit @SpindelWhorl that’s bloody awful

@ohfourfoxache

Holy shit *@SpindelWhorl* that’s bloody awful

It took a few of us a while to unpick it, but that's the long and short of it.

All it would take is for the Dept of Health to add an extra field to the central database, or allow vaccination hubs to add their own. I could do it in ten minutes.

Meanwhile Javid has been pontificating about the 'vast, vast majority' of the immune suppressed having had a 3rd primary when he has absolutely no way of knowing that because the data cannot currently be accessed by his officials.

Relevant charities meanwhile are estimating that up to 60% of immune suppressed patients are still waiting.

Thank you @ohfourfoxache and @SpindelWhorl. I’ll wait a bit until I start complaining then. I’ll just be wasting everyone’s time if it can’t be fixed yet.

I had to wait over six weeks to get get a letter from my consultant confirming I was eligible. Way past both deadlines that were set for it to be done.

I hope I don’t actually need a booster after this, as my immune system should be normal now, but if there is research that indicates I should be offered one I don’t want that messed up because my record is incorrect. Hopefully they’ll update the database fields soon.

Hope you don’t mind @SpindelWhorl I’ve PM’d you

I’m confused. I’m CEV. I’ve just had the booster. Should I have had a 3rd dose and a booster later down the line.

Relevant charities meanwhile are estimating that up to 60% of immune suppressed patients are still waiting.

I'm one of them. Another call to my rheumatology department today ended fruitlessly. I think I'm just going to follow the advice I've been given on here and turn up at a vaccination centre with the letter from my rheumatologist telling my GP I need one. Not that it'll be recorded properly even if I get one, by the sounds of it.

@Thefuturestory if you were immunocompromised when you had dose one or two (or both) then yes, you needed a third primary dose, then a booster in six months.

@Thefuturestory

I’m confused. I’m CEV. I’ve just had the booster. Should I have had a 3rd dose and a booster later down the line.

If you had the Pfizer jab, they're the same thing / dose. (Moderna is different.)

In 6 months' time we're all supposed to get another one - the 4th jab. Only the severely immune-compromised CEV would get a 4th jab (assuming the JCVI continues to recommend it.)

There's no field for it on the database yet (kind of 'computer says no' syndrome). This is what has adversely impacted the call-up.

This system recording change is however supposed to be happening soon.

Meantime, IMO patients who haven't been called up for their 3rd primary should should email their GP practice manager and ask to be called up asap as per JCVI advice. This is what I had to do.

@ohfourfoxache

Hope you don’t mind *@SpindelWhorl* I’ve PM’d you

No worries. Happy to help if I can. This is a bloody scandal that was entirely avoidable.

Wholeheartedly agree @SpindelWhorl

Essentially I just wondered if you could tell me where you’ve got your information from - between my mum’s GP and her specialists at UCLH no one has been able to advise her how to book a 3rd vaccine

So any and all information would be hugely appreciated!

That's the best current advice on here, @RachC2021 and @TheVampiresWife.

1. If you have a letter and can get to a vaccine centre, go and insist on a 3rd primary vaccine, citing JCVI advice from 2nd Sept. They will have to record it as 'the booster', not as your 3rd primary though. Keep your own record, for the future.

or

1. Email your practice manager with a copy of the JCVI advice from 2nd September and insist that they call you up for your 3rd primary jab, even if they do have to record is as 'the booster' done early. Keep your own record.

Watch out in the news for signs that the central vaccine recording system has been updated, and check with your GP that your personal records have been updated. Alert your secondary care providers, eg hospital teams, so that your records are properly updated there as well, just in case.

I find I am now the co-ordinator of my own care and my own medical records tbh.

Confusing.

Does that mean the 'booster' DH had last week is actually a 3rd primary dose?

He had the second jab in June, so it was confusing us that he hadn't waited 6 months. He doesn't have cancer or anything but is on a mixture of prednisolone and immunosuppressant drugs.

@Thefuturestory

I’m confused. I’m CEV. I’ve just had the booster. Should I have had a 3rd dose and a booster later down the line.

Me too, I have heard no suggestion about anyone having a third primary dose. It's a booster.

You are wrong. The 2 are different. There's a booster. And also a 3rd dose. They are NOT the same thing.

@RachC2021

Thank you *@ohfourfoxache and @SpindelWhorl*. I’ll wait a bit until I start complaining then. I’ll just be wasting everyone’s time if it can’t be fixed yet.

I had to wait over six weeks to get get a letter from my consultant confirming I was eligible. Way past both deadlines that were set for it to be done.

I hope I don’t actually need a booster after this, as my immune system should be normal now, but if there is research that indicates I should be offered one I don’t want that messed up because my record is incorrect. Hopefully they’ll update the database fields soon.

The info I read about eligibility for the 3rd dose would include you - ie someone who was immunosuppressant around the time of their first or second dose. It was still called a booster, not a ‘3rd dose’. I’ll see if I can find the info again.

@RachC2021

Who should I contact in order to fix this? I’d rather only contact one organisation and get it right first time, rather than contact the wrong organisation(s) first. GP did not administer the vaccine.

Same here- third primary dose on the vaccination card and a note put on the system as such by the vaccinator but now on my notes as a booster. So ridiculous.

Apparently the actual dose (of Pfizer at least) is the same whether it’s a 3rd primary or a booster

So at least that’s something, even if it can’t be recorded properly

Ah, seems I read duff info!
www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-issues-advice-on-third-dose-vaccination-for-severely-immunosuppressed

Third doses are for those who were severely immunosuppressed at the time of original vaccines, there is a strict criteria for it

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-issues-advice-on-third-dose-vaccination-for-severely-immunosuppressed

If you're eligible for a third dose then a booster you'll get contacted - I got a text and letter to book.

You can then have a booster so 4 doses In Total, in six months time.

The JCVI advice went out to GPs on the 2nd September 2021. The majority of severely immune suppressed patients (a relatively small group of under 500,000 in the whole country) are according to estimates from leading charities still waiting to be contacted.

This is largely as a result of them not being flagged up by the recording system as it is only flagging up 'it's time for a 6 month booster'.

Some GP staff are still denying that such a thing as a 3rd primary vaccination exists.

So we're back to:

1. Send the JCVI advice to your practice manager

1. If you have a consultant's letter, take it to a vaccination centre.

Keep a record so that when the system is sorted out, you'll be able to ensure your records are updated; and so you'll be called up if you choose to request a 4th jab in 6 months' time.

My Mum is CEV/immunocompromised. Because it was 6 months since her 2nd dose, she was invited for a Booster. As it was Pfizer, the booster and 3rd dose were the same thing - so she just had the Booster- it was easier than carrying on complaining to the GPs who had never heard of 3rd doses not being Boosters.

When she has her next appointment with her consultant, I will ask about the 3rd dose and try and get something in writing then. I will then worry about it getting “reclassified” when the system is updated ... and if that doesn’t work, I will fight the fight in 6 months if they are doing the 4th doses then.

Incidentally, she actually had a reaction to the vaccine this time (achy arm and extreme tiredness), which she didn’t with the first 2 doses. I wonder if that means it’s actually worked now and hadn’t before?

I found all this out through bitter experience tbh - reading the JCVI guidelines over and over, swapping info on MN (god bless you), being a patient myself who's severely immune suppressed, and being bloody pushy because I thought I was losing my mind.

After an exchange of emails, I finally got my GP practice to cave in and book me a 3rd jab at the local vaccine hub they're part of, and it was talking to the staff there about the software issues that made it all fall into place.

The central database effectively has 3 fields.

1 = jab 1
2 = jab 2
3 = the booster

That's it. There's no separate field for '3rd primary jab' that's distinguishable from 'booster'.

So a pragmatic solution would be to push the JCVI advice at the GP practice or vaccine centre, say that you understand that it'll have to be recorded for now as 'the booster', and you'll all have to sort it out later on when the necessary software changes have occurred.

BLOODY BIG SIGH.